penguins injury update....

dude....

the pittsburgh penguins have gotten two of our injured players back..

dustin jeffery and mark letestu will lace-em-up for the pens today in toronto...

unfortunately tyler kennedy has gone down with an undisclosed lower-body injury....

two steps forward... one step back...

~ cheers... david

in shero we trust...

dude...

injuries.. no one wants them.. especially at this time of year when every team is poised to make a big push for a playoff run...

its trade deadline time.. the silly season in the nhl... some teams holding salary-dump fire sales... psstt.. ottawa.. others buying up rent-a-players as fast as the can.. ducks.. buffalo.. colorado, st. louis..

about the penguins...

the team is doing remarkably well considering all the injuries to their core group of guys.. 4th overall in the eastern conference...we prolly wont catch the flyers.. but with more points than boston and keeping pace with tampa bay - ranked 3rd & 2nd respectively - we can still hold our heads up and be proud..

but this cant go on... losing in OT or in the shoot-out night after night may get you a point... but it doesnt win stanley cups...

what to do....

lets make a deal! or two...

goligoski to dallas for neal and niskanen...

a conditional draft pick to ottawa for alexei kovalev..

they say the devil is in the details... soooo...

goligoski is an aggressive d-man.. a goal scorer.. a stanley cup winner... hes young and has the ability to win another cup.. point to dallas..

neal will add some offense and niskanen is a good stay at home d-man... except when he turns the puck over at his own blue-line in ot... d'oh!

pittsburgh needs goal scorers and arguably a good homer defense-man... not the best deal perhaps, but enough to get into the playoffs.. no points...

niskanen and neal each have a year left on their contracts so the penguins have some options at the end of june... point to pittsburgh..

kovalev has been here before... welcome home buddy...

hes an unrestricted-free-agent at the end of this season and odds are hes retired or in the khl after that... so a conditional draft pick is no biggy... point to pittsburgh..

will the penguins miss goligoski going forward? absolutely...

but desperate times call for desperate measures... the list of injured penguins seems to get longer every game...

but mario lemieux is happy with all this and ray shero is an awesome general manager....

in shero we trust...

go penguins...

arron asham, mike comrie, sidney crosby, eric goddard (suspended), dustin jeffrey, nick johnson, chris kunitz, mark letestu, gino malkin, paul martin, brooks orpik, and eric tangradi..

boys, get well soon..

~ cheers... david

the legacy of brendan burke...

dude....

two years ago, you might not have heard of a guy called brendan... brendan burke.. son of one brian burke, nhl big wig and general manager of the toronto maple leafs.. hes imposing and impressive... when brian shouts, people listen.. when brendan died, brian cried, and people listened.. theyre still listening...

brendan burke... hes one of my hockey heros.... he came out publicly 15 months ago.... he was the student manager for his d1 college hockey team, the miami of ohio redhawks.. the number one ranked ncaa mens ice hockey team in the nation...

he died just three months later alone, save for his friend mark, on a snowy lonely road in indiana..

i didnt know very much about mark reedy... but i do know this...

he was an 18-year-old bloomfield hills man.. he died along with his friend, brendan, 21, one year ago friday in a car crash.. burke's car slid sideways into the path of another car on a snowy indiana road, killing both of them..
mark reedy graduated from bloomfield hills lahser high school in 2009, where he was a diver, and attended michigan state university.. the top diver in oakland county in 2008-09, he was a champion athlete and twice a state runner-up..

brendan was my hero before he died... he was newly openly gay.. from a proud, old school hockey family, former player, student manager and probable nhl big shot like his dad, or even probable big shot lawyer/politician guy... i was devastated when he died.... i still get a little emotional when i read about him.. or think about his life, see his picture, hear his name....

but - boys. dont. cry. ..

many of us gay athletes, gay hockey players, looked to brendan to bring something new to pro sports for all of us lgbt athletes.. especially in hockey... a safe and welcoming environment in which we could be openly lgbt and play our game with pride and passion as full members of the team...

today is the anniversary of brendans death... and that of his friend mark reedy..

from the toronto sun... http://www.torontosun.com/sports/hockey/2011/02/03/17146531.html

and finally from cbs sports.. a touching tribute to brendan and the miami of ohio redhawks...

brendans older brother patrick has done so much to keep brendans legacy alive and move it forward... my hat is off and my heart goes out to the burke family, to the miami of ohio redhawks, and to everyone that knew, knew of, and remembers brendan everyday.... rest in peace...

“There are a lot of gay athletes out there and gay people working in pro sports that deserve to know that there are safe environments where people are supportive of you regardless of your sexual orientation.”- Brendan Burke

boys. dont. cry.....

~ peace... david